Abstract
Empty categories – positions in phonological representations that have no direct phonetic counterpart – are (still) controversial in phonological theory. In this paper we give the main arguments for assuming such positions and we furthermore establish a markedness hierarchy for empty positions: some of them are stronger (‘more marked’) than others, and we can derive this from a combination of Element Theory and Turbidity Theory. We illustrate our point with Italian and Dutch dialects, and point out that the phonological hierarchy of empty positions may correspond to a hierarchy of syntactic positions
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Beyond Markedness in Formal Phonology |
Editors | Bridget Samuels |
Place of Publication | Amsterdam |
Publisher | John Benjamins Publishing |
Pages | 101-120 |
Publication status | Published - 01 Nov 2017 |